1. Field
The present invention relates to a refrigerator and a control method thereof, and particularly, to a refrigerator including a door opening device to easily open a door and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, since a door to open and close large refrigerator compartments is also large, a strong force is required to open the door. Not only is the door heavy, but there is a difference between interior temperature and outer temperature of the compartment due to a temperature drop of the compartment when the refrigerator is operated. Thus, recently, a door opening device has been installed to the refrigerator to push a door in the opening direction when opening the door.
Korean Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-40436 discloses a refrigerator including a door opening device. This refrigerator is a side by side refrigerator including compartments partitioned at both sides thereof and a left door and a right door to open and close the respective compartments. The opening device includes a driving motor to rotate forward and backward, and a main cam rotated by the driving motor. The door opening device further includes a first sub-cam driven by the main cam to open the left door and a second sub-cam driven by the main cam to open the right door.
The door opening device opens the left door by which, due to the rotation of the driving motor, the main cam rotates clockwise to drive the first sub-cam. Due to the reverse rotation of the driving motor, the main cam rotates counterclockwise to drive the second sub-cam, resulting in opening the right door.
However, since this door opening device drives the main cam by the forward rotation of the driving motor clockwise and returns the main cam to an initial position by the reverse rotation of the driving motor counterclockwise after opening the door, the driving motor must be rotated twice to open a single door. In other words, the driving motor must rotate forward and in reverse. Thus, in the door opening device, since the driving motor is frequently driven, the lifespan of the driving motor and a relay to control the driving motor could be shortened.
Moreover, in a case of opening one of the doors and opening the other door thereafter, in order to open one of the doors, the driving motor is driven according to rotating in a first direction, rotating in a second direction opposite to the first direction to be returned to the initial position, further rotating in the second direction to open the other door, and rotating in the first direction to be returned to the initial position. Thus, in this case, the driving motor is frequently driven and the opening of the doors is delayed.